Nov. 27th, 2021

rynling: (Terra Branford)
Well lads, I can now check off "romancing Victor Frankenstein" from my bucket list of life goals.

Code: Realize is a steampunk-flavored visual novel with basic visual novel gameplay. I'd rate it at PG-13, in that there's a bit of murder and body horror, but no nudity or sexuality beyond kissing. Despite their stated ages, almost every character speaks and behaves like a teenager. The art is extremely pretty, but the character designs are ridiculous. The story tackles heavy themes, but it's hard to take it seriously when the writing is so... Man, I can't even say "campy," because there's zero trace of irony or self-awareness of how silly it is.

I could see myself getting really into this game if the art and writing were a bit more mature, but as it stands it's pleasant and fluffy nonsense. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, because it's exactly what I wanted.

Generally speaking, most visual novels have several "normal" endings, one "true" ending, and at least one "Jesus Christ that's fucked up" ending. Victor Frankenstein is this game's analogy to the "childhood friend," and the ending of his route is very sweet. There's another character (Count Saint Germain, whom I suspect is a time traveler) whose route might lead to a darker ending. I don't think it's possible to romance him in the traditional sense, but pursuing his interest might be fun if I ever play through the game again.

Unfortunately, the game doesn't let you skip chapters or start in the middle, so taking another route is probably going to result in another full six or seven hour playthrough. Code: Realize is enjoyable enough that I don't mind doing this, but I'm going to give it a rest for the time being.
rynling: (Default)
There is a big sale on visual novels on the Nintendo Switch store right now. Some of them are even Japanese!

For about $30 I picked up a French urban fantasy visual novel about time travel called Across the Grooves and a Japanese horror visual novel about urban legends called Spirit Hunter: NG.

I think both games are also currently on sale at the same discount on Steam, but I've grown very fond of the Switch as a cute handheld console that I can read in bed, so once again I am giving money to Nintendo. What can I say, video games are cheaper than therapy.

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